Places (Not) To Go

Will I be able to get everything done that I need to get done in the next two weeks? We’ll find out!

As for attending the “memorial” event at BreyerFest, I am still undecided. As I mentioned in the last post, most of my bigger emotions are now packed into little tiny boxes in the attic of my mind, and I planned on keeping them taped tightly shut until I get to Wyoming.

BreyerFest is already a pretty intense event, so it might be in my best interest to stay away from things that might provoke yet another emotional outburst. (Everyone melts down at least once: the only question is whether it happens in public or in private.)

Speaking of other events I may not attend, I am utterly uninterested in the BreyerFest Car Show. 

Part of the reason why I go to Kentucky every year is to escape the local car culture. A half dozen car shows spontaneously happen in random parking lots around here every weekend from April through October (and once a month at work!) and they’ve completely lost their allure to me. 

I grew up around old cars, and I’ve already seen examples of even the rarest of them in person – heck, there was a local museum (not even two miles from our house!) that had a Tucker, and I had no idea it was that big of a deal until the movie came out….

It’s not something completely unexpected – I mean hello, this year’s theme is “Driving Forward” – but I have plenty else to do, so I doubt my presence will be missed.   

I don’t know most of the Social Media Influencers attending the Social Media Meet, so that’s also probably a no-go. I guess I’m peripherally a minor social media type person, but unless I hear otherwise, you’re more likely to meet me in my Room in the 300s clear on the other side of the hotel. (Which is Room 312, unless something goes sideways.) 

And I guess that’s it for today? I have some horses to pull out of boxes and pictures for various projects that I have to process, and every moment is precious right now. 

Here’s a picture of the Unpainted Sherman Morgan that I bought; I thought I’d be able to see some of whatever the problems were that led to the mold getting decommissioned and then retooled, but I don’t see anything obvious. 

It’s most likely he was tossed into the cull bin because the seams were poorly matched up in places, and were beyond the ability of the finisher to buff them away. Still a pretty neat guy to have, though!

This also means that, in spite of the fact that I am not the mold’s biggest fan, I own four examples of it pre-remodeling (all except Fashionably Late), and three post (Matte and Gloss Justin Morgan, and the 2014 BreyerFest Special Run Celebration in Silver Filigree.) 

Funny how that happens. 

Model Horse Melodrama

Generally I’m not a big fan of Victorian Melodramas: it’s not so much the style that bothers me (though it sometimes does: it can be so emotionally exhausting!), but the fact that all too often it feels like I’m living in one.

 

(I picked up a small stack of these at the local flea market years ago, because seriously, why wouldn’t you?) 

I had a couple of really rough days last week and was feeling pretty low, so you guys don’t know how much it means to me that y’all are (mostly!) sticking up for me on this incredibly bizarre BreyerFest Test Color Adventure. I don’t know where this is going, but I am definitely not taking my hands of the wheel until the car comes to a complete stop.

As a minor reward to all of you, I’d like to point out that there’s a seller on eBay who has a couple of Unpainted Sherman Morgan bodies up for sale – the older lumpy ones with the turd-shaped tail! (They are listed as Mustangs, so might not come up in you saved searches.)

I know there’s lots of Shermie fans out there who might go for that sort of thing, history buffs who’d want a cull of an obsolete version of the mold because history, and Unpainted collectors looking for something rare and cool.

Anyway, moving on…. 

I’m going to be extremely busy for the next month or so, because absolutely nothing is finished for BreyerFest and beyond. This week I’m hoping to get the Sampler and its associated paperwork done, or mostly done, and then I can spend the rest of my time working on the live show stuff.

I am trying not to get too worked up about the show, either, but I want to at least not embarrass myself. And I am setting my sights pretty low for success: one NAN card, and 5 to 10 placings total seems reasonable, considering the size of the show. (Unlike a lot of shows nowadays, they place to tenth. Tenth counts!)

Any prize model would be a delight forever, but I am not betting on it. Two factors that do seem to have some effect on the quality and quantity of one’s placing are (a) spending big [I don’t] and (b) being lucky [for the most part, no]. Fortunately, the Overall and Reserve aren’t on molds that are must-haves for me, either. 

The color on the Roxy Tilbury is gorgeous – one I was considering for the custom of the Classic Quarter Horse Mare I’ve been playing with – but I prefer the loose mane to the braided on her. Most of Breyer’s newer braided manes just don’t do it for me. (Except for the ones on the Gabriel version of the Nikolas mold. Those are pretty adorable.)

 

The problem with the Big Ben mold is that he has a lot of unattainables in his back catalog, and they’re all the ones I want the most (Silver Twilight, Sonnet, Serengeti, the FEI Dark Bay). It is hard to get my hopes up when all I see when I look at Stanhope is the newest member of that exclusive club. 

Apparition

Except for some photos, formatting, and about an hour or two worth of nitpicking/editing – all stuff I can finish the weekend before – the Sampler is done. Now on to the “taking pictures for the photo show” thing.

(This week: Stablemates and Foals!)

Pictures of the Mid-Years are up on the Breyer web site, though nothing is officially for sale yet. Aside from the 70th Anniversary Stablemates – which are already sold out everywhere they went on pre-sale – the one new release that has me the most excited is Apparition:

My first reaction to seeing the 2020 Halloween Horse was “It’s a Scooby-Doo Horse!” 

The second was “I want it!” 

Honestly, this is just about the perfect marriage of mold with an idea: a mold based on a cartoon with a Deco paint job based on another cartoon. Love it!

The “glowing in the dark” part is just a bonus.

Well, technically I was never a huge fan of Scooby-Doo (aside from those goofy “Scooby-Doo Movies” in the 1970s with celebrity guest stars, like Batman and Sonny and Cher.) But still, as an animation fan I adore it, and I’m glad that they’re “leaning in” to the Spirit mold’s aesthetic rather than trying to deny or downplay it.

Though it wouldn’t take that much to get the Spirit mold up to snuff conformationally, I’d rather they just leave the mold as is and find creative ways of utilizing it as is, like they did here with Apparition.

Just like I would have preferred they keep the original #54 Trakehner’s tail the same, the Stock Horse Stallion’s too, and the “bulldog” physique of the Quarter Horse Gelding.

The main problem I have with mold alterations isn’t the negation of history or the adulteration of the artist’s original vision (more the latter than the former with me, but let’s not go there today) but the fact that they are rarely done well.

In short, the alterations look like obvious alterations, and don’t blend seamlessly into the overall sculpt.

That’s my primary beef, for instance, with the Sherman Morgan. While I was perfectly fine with the necessity of changing his original tail – let’s get real people, the original was basically shaped like a turd – the style of the new tail doesn’t match the rest of Jeanne Mellin Herrick’s sculpture, either. I like it better, but it doesn’t quite… fit.

And just like the tail it replaced, it’s the first thing that draws my eye whenever I see a Sherman Morgan. That is exactly the opposite of what these kinds of alterations should be shooting for.

Pinto Roemer

Managed to survive Cyber Monday unscathed, as well. So far the only other item that’s tempted me in the past couple of weeks’ worth of sales and promotions – aside from the Benasque and the True North mini – was the Let’s Go Riding – English Set with the pinto Roemer, who was on sale several days ago or so.

I make no apologies for loving the Roemer mold, but I haven’t bought this set yet because it’s diggity-danged expensive – only a pittance less than what I paid for my Test Color Roemer:

I mean, yeah, the set comes with a boatload of stuff, but even this Roemer fangirl has her limits. Though if nothing else comes through for me through the end of the year, I may swing by one of my local independent toy stores and buy one as my “holiday present to myself” thing.

Incidentally, one of the few things I did accomplish over the long, lazy Thanksgiving weekend was to clean off my desk – of both crumbs and paperwork! One of the things I found in my to-do pile was a post about Roemer’s sculptor, Jeanne Mellin Herrick.

She was one of Breyer’s most prolific sculptors in the immediate post-Hess era, sculpting six new Traditional molds in the space of five years:

• Sherman Morgan (1987)
• John Henry (1988)
• Roemer (1990)
• Misty’s Twilight (1991)
• Pluto (1991)
• Friesian (1992)

In spite of their anatomical irregularities, some of them – especially the Sherman Morgan and Friesian – still have devoted fanbases. In recent years, most of these molds have also seen a second life or three in gift sets and holiday releases designed for younger hobbyists and casual collectors.

(The Friesian got two releases alone, this year: Harley, and the Let’s Go Riding – Western Set!)

What’s nice about loving a mold less desirable molds like Roemer is that he’s an easier and more affordable mold to collect. So far the only Roemer out of my reach is the Chicago Exclusive Event Centerpiece model Wadsworth.

On the other hand, Reeves’s marketing strategy with these molds has had the benefit of boosting the visibility – and ultimately, the popularity – of these molds with the general public.

Which could lead to more releases in the future, but also the possibility of more unobtainable models like Wadsworth.

(Worth it. Probably.)

(Note: yes, a longer and more detailed post about Jeanne Mellin Herrick will be coming soon.)

QVC Justin Morgan and Candy Apple Bay

All those Calvin pictures are making it very hard to resist hitting the “Buy Now” button. And I’m really warming up to the Bay, which shouldn’t be a surprise, considering who is my favorite BreyerFest find this week:

A lovely Gloss Justin Morgan on the Sherman Morgan mold, one of the many Special Runs done for QVC in 2002 – and another one of my Saturday afternoon NPOD finds, box and all.

It’s funny that of all the Sherman Morgan releases that there have been – many of them being Decorators of the “over the top” variety – it’s this relatively sedate Gloss Bay that’s finally made me “get” him.

Or it could just be the color. One of the handful of Traditional Silvers that I’ve kept is the BreyerFest Special Run Valentino, who comes in almost the same shade of Glossy Shaded Bay.

I sometimes refer to it as “Candy Apple Bay” even though, ironically, I don’t particularly like Candy Apples. I’m more of a Caramel Apple person. (I am neutral on the addition of nuts, sprinkles or chocolate drizzle.)

I briefly considered putting him on my saleslist – I am dead serious about getting the horse pile up in the office under control, and almost no one is safe – but once I popped his box open again earlier this week, I knew he was a no-go.

I have only one other Revised Sherman Morgan mold – the 2014 BreyerFest Silver Filigree Celebration – but I doubt I’ll be going crazy trying to play catch up with the mold anytime soon. Too many of them are on the unobtainable side, anyway.

The Holiday Shermans

When the “Christmas Surprise” e-mail came through late on December 24, my imagination went into overtime with all of potential ways Reeves could tempt me.

An Elk? A Deer Family? The Zebra? Maybe even another dog, like the Saint Bernard?

Instead, we got a trio of Sherman Morgans:

Since I don’t love the mold as much as others do, and I’m not one to buy to resell, I walked away from the offer with my Paypal account balance intact. A Gold Florentine to match my Silver Filigree Celebration would have been nice, but it being a Gambler’s Choice there was no way I could guarantee it.

(The Silver Filigree Celebration, incidentally, is the only example I have of the revised Sherman Morgan mold; my other three Shermans are all of the original lumpy version with the turd-shaped tail.)

I imagine if he came in a favorite color like the original Freckle Red Roan or the “Silver Dilute Dun” the Web Special Adios Frappe came in, the story would be different. I sometimes hesitate just a bit whenever I see an affordably priced Gloss QVC Special Run of the Justin Morgan, or the Millennium Horse Carpe Diem.

I wouldn’t have hesitated to keep a Silver Charm Celebration either, if I had lucked into one.

It wasn’t all that surprising that the Sherman didn’t sell out by the end of the day: there were 350 of each color, 1050 pieces total, and limited to one per account. That’s a lot of models! I’m not sure he even officially sold out, or they just removed him from the site.

Other than the Grab Bag with the WEG Classics Ruffian in it, I didn’t bite on any of the offers made on the web site this Holiday season. I did put a few items in my shopping cart to see if they qualified for the latest “Free Random Gloss Classic Arabian” offer. They did, and the Free Shipping offer on top of that was tempting.

But still didn’t do it.

One of my hobby resolutions for next year is to get models off the office floor, and that’s going to require another culling of the herd by another five or ten percent. Buying fewer models now will mean fewer models to cull later.

Spotty, or Speckly?

Neither one of the Silver Filigree Sherman Morgans turned out to be a Silver Charm, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have a decision to make about variations:

Spotty, or speckly?

There’s never really been any consistency with the Silver Filigree paintjob since its introduction in 1993, on the Proud Arabian Mare. Some, like the PAM, have a "plated and spotted" look; others look more like the "Wild Dapple Grays" of the late 1970s that just happen to be Silver instead of Gray. Most of them, lately, have looked like my more speckly fellow - finer and smaller resist dapples against a silver background.

Other than the smaller runs - like the Proud Arabian Stallion "Saturday Night Fever" and Foal "Born to Run", BreyerFest Raffle items from 2003 - there’s been no consistency within the runs themselves, as my two Shermans demonstrate. I saw a third (on Blab?) that was so finely speckled he looked almost like a Freckle-style Roan (pretty!)

A quick survey on eBay suggests that the "spotty" ones appear to be the most common of the variations of Celebration available, though that conclusion might be a result of selection bias. Hobbyists may be keeping the variations they like more - or selling the ones they like less.

Which one is the most rare (other than the Silver Charm) doesn’t matter to me personally. I think I’m going with the spotty one, just because he makes me smile every time I look at him. I wouldn’t mind keeping both, but that can’t happen, at least not now.

On Shermans, Past and Present

Felt a bit weepy earlier this week, but in a good way: I got a letter from the organization that I donated Sherman (my late car, the Saturn Station Wagon) to, and they ended up selling him already, and for way more than I expected. Aside from the bigger tax credit, which is nice, it was good to hear that someone saw that much potential in him.

Have a happy second life, Sherman.

Another Sherman entered the scene this week - the Silver Filigree one just announced as part of the SR lineup for BreyerFest. I’m not as into the Sherman Morgan mold as some hobbyists are, but he looks fabulous in that color, and I still don’t have an example of the mold with the newer tail yet.

I did find myself inexplicably drawn to a Rose Gray Baxter I found on eBay last week while shopping for something else. I wouldn’t mind the Gloss Bay QVC release, either, but I’m always either just missing him or getting sniped.

While I’m glad to see their photography skills are improving, is it just me or is that not the worst Photoshop clipping path, ever? I thought the Warehouse Find Chestnut Halla/Bolya picture looked bad: poor Shermie looks like he’s melting.

I can do better in five minutes with a ten-year-old copy of Photoshop and a cludgy mouse (Drawing tablet and stylus? Feh, for amateurs!) As could a substantial portion of the hobby, and possibly Vita. Baby steps, I suppose.

So I pulled the trigger and bought the second ticket. My first choices will be Gossamer, Sherman, and at least one Surprise. Second choices will include the Bears and the Appaloosa Carrick. There’s still one more Line Ticket item to be revealed, and the Surprise potentially being something I’d rather not deal with (cough Silver mold cough) so it could change.

(Not the Gossamer though. That one’s non-negotiable.)

Some of the Anniversary store items are starting to be leaked, too - the Plushie, the Crystal Alborozo, a Decoratory "new" Classic that basically a plastic version of the Sir Buckingham mold, and a Pink G3 Highland Pony covered in sprinkles that I Must Have. (A Cupcake, with sprinkles! Gah!)

There’s another obvious thing for you: individual Stablemate Store Specials. They could make at least a thousand of those, and sell ‘em out. I could see it as a good item for tourists passing through the Park on actual vacation who might want to get their kids a little memento of the event, without committing to something bigger or more expensive.

Not realizing, of course, that Stablemates multiply, and grow, and the next thing they know the family’s computer has some strange new bookmarks and there are printouts of the newest Web Specials just sort of sitting casually on the kitchen table in the morning, and….

Stablemates are the hobby's gateway drug. So cute, so little, so seemingly harmless.

Fall Dealer Special, and Facebook

Something no so substantial today; I got maybe two hours of sleep last night, due to work. The only things keeping me from slipping into a semi-conscious state are a half a can of Diet Dr. Pepper and a blueberry muffin. (FWIW, the muffin was homemade. And delicious.)

So it appears that Reeves will be attempting another Fall Dealer Special this year, one exclusive to "Brick and Mortar" stores (ones with actual storefronts, and not just online presences): a Glossy Palomino Appaloosa Esprit.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Playroom/175400942521144

The details are vague, and obviously incomplete: each "store" will be limited to 18 pieces. But does that limit apply to each location, or for each business entity? (Note: I’m not dealer, and have no pretensions of ever having a storefront beyond renting a booth at the local antique mall.)

I was apprehensive at first when I heard it was going to be another Esprit: oh great, another super-limited Esprit I won’t be able to see, much less own. However, the fact that the 2009 Glossy Sherman Morgan "Autumn" wasn’t as hard to come by as many initially feared (after the initial "OMG-Gotta-Have-It" freakout), gives me some hope that the piece count on him will be in the more attainable range, too.

(One of my local stores still had an Autumn Sherman on the shelves, before Christmas. Haven’t been back to that part of town lately, so I don’t know if it’s still there.)

There are no photos, and no official data to go by, except for that one little bit posted on a dealer’s Facebook page. Even though it’s little more than a rumor at this point, hobbyists are already attempting to get on dealer wait lists for it.

I thought the Gray Appaloosa Esprit from the Benefit Auction last year was pretty spiffy, and I imagine the Palomino version of that would not be any less so. If I manage to score one somehow, great - but I won’t worry about it in the meantime.

Since I have a little space and time, and still feel reasonably coherent, now seems like a good time to elaborate a little bit on my policy regarding Facebook.

I don’t have an account - and I don’t intend to, unless I either become famous, or get a job that would require it. (Either scenario? Unlikely.) I’ve had some identity theft issues in the past: my first inclination is to not put too much of myself "out there". A site that’s dedicated to doing that? So not going there.

But the main reason why is because that’s not how I use the Internet. As someone who jumped feet first into that ocean well over a decade ago, Facebook feels like a wading pool. I have a blog, two e-mail addresses, and several forum accounts: I barely have time to do what I already need to do, much less update my status every couple of hours, or approve friend requests from people I didn't particularly like in high school.

The only time I do interact with it is through publicly available pages that might actually have information that I may find both useful and reliable (hence the link to the Breyer Facebook page, to the right.) There’s not a whole lot of that on Facebook (the above link also includes some amusing misinformation about the Pink Elephant. Only three others in existence? I don’t think so, darlin’.)

Anything you really need to know about me will either be here, or via my domain, whenever I get around to working on that. (‘Tis a sad thing right now - all it does it redirect you here.)

(I will admit that I’ve been Twitter-curious, of late. Only because the notion of live-tweeting BreyerFest amuses me. "Entering NPOD. Mortal Kombat!")

The Mysteries of Shermie Love

I’m not really getting the craze over the Fall Dealer Promo Model Autumn. Part of it is undoubtedly my aversion to the season from which he takes his name: for reasons I will not discuss here, it is not my favorite time of the year.

The Sherman Morgan has never been a huge favorite of mine anyway. I have him in his original release of chestnut, the lovely alabaster JAH SR Pride and Vanity, and the original black, but I haven’t been highly motivated to get the rest of them. The Dapple Gray Tobiano test piece in the 2008 BreyerFest Auction was a beautiful thing, I’ll grant you, but well beyond my price range.


But Autumn is a 2000 piece run: that’s significantly more than your average JAH Special (typically 1500) or BreyerFest Special (500-1500). The color is more appealing (it’s a rare mold that’s not improved with a bit of gloss), the SRP is more reasonable, and the distribution model seems a little more fair than last year’s attempt. Even if we factor in his higher popularity rating and the gloss factor, I still don’t think the prices some dealers and collectors are trying to charge will hold up in the long run.

I wouldn’t be surprised, even, if a few batches of them show up in the Tent next year. Not as many as the Medalist Ponies, but a few cases, at least? Yeah. We’re talking 2000 pieces here. That’s a lot of horses, no matter how you divvy them up.

I’m sure most of the current craze for him is just due to him being the newest, shiniest bauble on the table. Happens every year at BreyerFest: a model’s awesomeness is extolled, crazy-mad prices are charged (and sometimes, received), then the inevitable collapse of both praise and price a few months - or even weeks - later.

There have been a few exceptions to the rule, but there's usually been a mitigating factor. And the possible migitating factor for Shermie is his strangely potent popularity.

I’ve always wondered if all the Shermie love was a consequence of his extended absence from the Breyer line: the mold was taken out of production at the end of 1992, and did not return until 2000, slightly remodeled and with a brand new tail, as the #1105 Carpe Diem.

The story was that the mold was damaged beyond repair. The word "destroyed" is casually bandied about when the discussion turns to damaged or altered molds; Breyer was the first to use that term, in reference to the 1984 JAH Saddlebred Weanling’s pending mold change to the Rocking Horse. I don’t know when the word "destroyed" came up in reference to the Sherman Morgan mold, but any time a mold is put on an extended vacation from production, it inevitably enters the discussion.

I hate that word, because it’s pretty clear that the way the company uses the word is quite different from the way hobbyists do. In hobbyist circles, the word destroyed evokes cataclysmic imagery: tossed from a high-rise and shattered into a million pieces, drop-kicked into the Pacific Ocean, or melted down and recycled into parts for your Subaru. Gone forever and ever, amen and goodbye.

Breyer uses the term its more technical or artistic sense, generally, to describe a mold that is no longer in its original state. Kind of like art prints: an earlier state of an artistic etching is considered "destroyed" when changes are made to it. But it is not gone, only changed. Halla was "destroyed," but the "Bolya" mold lives on. The Saddlebred Weanling was "destroyed" but we had the "Rocking Horse" instead. (Until they restored it, more or less.)

Parts may go missing, or be retooled and remodeled, but molds are rarely discarded or destroyed entirely. (Alborozo being a notable exception.) They’re just too darn expensive and time-consuming to build from scratch: it’s better to keep an unusable mold in storage until it’s possible to repair or salvage it somehow.

His color is beautiful: that’s the only thing that’s keeping me from dismissing him entirely from my want list. But until I get some money and space issues resolved here, I’ll have to opt out of the Shermie Love Fest for now.